Happiness

"Happiness is a causeless, objectless, unspecified sense of well-being. Though not an emotion, it uplifts the emotions. But are not feelings temporary? Feelings are fleeting, but the 'feeling' of true or real Happiness is not. 'True' means it lasts forever. 'Real' means unchanging, undying. Happiness is the sense that nothing is missing or lacking on any level, inwardly or outwardly; that, no matter what, one is perfectly equipped to deal with whatever life has to offer. Happiness is the feeling of endless possibility, invincibility, and unqualified freedom seen in children before they've been compromised by conditioning. Happiness is wholeness, completeness, an unshakable conviction that nothing can be gained or lost. Even of someone or something very dear is taken away, one is undiminished. Happiness is the knowledge that one is more powerful than all the objects in the world and all the thoughts in one's own mind. It is the knowledge that no separation exists between oneself and the world, between oneself and others. Happiness is unconditional disinterested love for the sake of the beloved. It is fearlessness, fullness, inexhaustible inner abundance. And the absence of desire. Especially the absence of desire."


In Meditation: An Inquiry Into The Self
James Swartz